It’s fair to say that Dick Barton is old enough to remember how “back in the day” it was considered bad form to toot your own horn.  The fellow who would walk into a room and begin bragging about himself, his success or his money (e.g., the Rodney Dangerfield character in “Caddyshack”) was considered crass and an embarrassment. 

But that was then, and this is now.  Self-promotion is the order of the day.  If others won’t tell you you’re great, take out an ad and do it yourself.

Which might explain Mr. Barton’s letter in this week’s editions of both local newspapers gushing with praise for the Taste of Park Ridge Committee, which is comprised of Barton buddies and political allies Mayor Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark and former Maine Township Supervisor Bob “The Dude” Dudycz, the latter of whom is also the vice-president of Taste of Park Ridge NFP, the Illinois not-for-profit corporation that was formed to take over Taste of Park Ridge (the event) in June, 2005, shortly after Frimark took office.

Although Barton is not listed as either an officer or director of Taste (the corporation) or a committee member of Taste (the event), he does appear in the picture [pdf] posted on the Taste website that pops up when you click on the “Meet the Board of Directors and Committee Members” button on the home page – that’s him third from the left, two places to the right of Dudycz and two places to the left of Frimark – so we’re guessing he must have a pretty important “unofficial” position with the organization.

As discussed in two previous posts [Time For A Transparent “Taste” and Time For A Transparent “Taste” – Part 2 ], while we are fans of the Taste and hope it continues as an annual event, we believe that there is far too much secrecy and not nearly enough transparency and accountability in the operation of Taste (the corporation and the event) for an allegedly not-for-profit “community event” of this type.  Of course, Taste (the corporation) could assuage any suspicions or concerns about who’s getting what out of Taste by simply opening up its books to the public and posting all that information on its spiffy website.  Why that hasn’t been done remains a mystery to us.

So if Mr. Barton wants to take pride in a successful street fair, that’s certainly his right.  But we hope our community saves its pride for slightly more significant things, like transparent and accountable city government – and transparent and accountable not for profit corporations staging events for city government.